After working my way through one and a half sheets of paper card on those industrial buildings i had some off-cuts so a little something is being made by using these. A Template was made and I used it to create back to back bridge sections. The bridge is a foot long by four inches wide. The high centre point of the bow is three and a half inches. The construction will be in the shape and form of girders and plates will further strengthen bridge. Two coats of black gloss emulsion, and a green finish will make it pop! As well making it very strong.

There will be two end concrete supports to the model and these will stand four and a half inches high,and are boxes that can be filled with some kiln dried sand of which I have plenty. A double thickness of paper card will span the gap and the bridge will be stuck into place, then a track and roadbed will be stuck into place to finish the work. It has been a very productive fun filled day. BB

To avoid confusion or indeed to add to it,i decided to merge this part,because they will form part of the bridge. "Here we go again." One straight back, with slopping front and two sides designed for added strength.

____ "i`m sure the reason will become self evident by its end."___ "Or not."

Sometimes i change plans,so i decided to make do with one paper card support,which i believe is called an end-wall. This is expendable,and will soon be as useful as a bowl full of wet,dry sand. " That`s an Oxymoron."___ " Yah,sure is, whatever that means."

" i`m confused i think."___ " Me too."___ " You 2 always are", said the accentric Cowboy who always in the true spirit of the Wild West sleeps in his boots."

An oblong tub. Mrs B,keeps these for me to keep my truck in. The Kiln dried sand being very fine,but awfully dry,was wetted down with a couple a cups of water. No real mixing involved it was just left to soak in.

Sand placed in the bottom,and the tub was bumped up and down to compact it down . "Yip that`s easy."Kitchen paper roll stuffed inside the paper card box. "It stops the sides from being pushed in by the sand. i think?" " Yip,thats right. Well done."__ "Gee,thanks BB."___ "Teachers Pet!"

The sand is piled in. " It`s like making sand Castles."

No ramming up to do. The oblong truck box is simply bumped up and down on my table top. The last thing to do was to level the top off, and_______________________

___ give the box a wiggle from edge to edge and side to side,and then remove the Pattern.

Glug, Glug the Plaster of Paris is poured in.

As the water was being sucked out of the plaster and into the sand, the top, which is the bottom shrunk a tiny bit, so I topped it up with what was left of the same mix. " i`m confused,i think."___ "ME too."

The sandy end result two End Walls,for the Girder Bridge! No fancy walls needed here,just plain concrete. A brush off and any trimming needed,will be dealt with later.

A double rail-tracked bridge was designed and mapped well out.

A bridge that is still in parts upon the Cutting Table,can continue to take shape. This shows the inner reinforcement added to each side of the bridge. Two will form each side of the bridge. There are more reinforcements to do later.Update Soon. BB

Work on the Bridge is coming along fine,and it will be put together soon Peter. My confidence dipped into a low point a few days ago, but making this bridge,has perked me up somewhat. How i want it to look is based upon fond memories of my childhood,and the bridge that actually stood upon my favourite stretch of the River Wensum. i have long ago written of it in book form,and as the wheel turns full circle i`m now making a facsimile of it.

One dangerous extraordinary adventure i had when 10 or perhaps 11,was climbing up the old bridge and making my way to the very top of that rounded iron structure,it was massively high, and quite breezy. Everyone thought me crazy,perhaps so but it was crazy fun,and as i stood upon the rounded top looking down at the river far below,i remember thinking how the heck am i going to get down ? The fright of my situation soon passed,as i turned around bent on all fours and gripping the iron edges slowly crawled backwards down to where i could safely swing off and slid down the upright end girder on the other side of the river. In 1960 i had a clear head for such heights ,but not now. One thing for sure though my climbing days then and many years after were far from being over.

The old iron Railway Bridge was demolished in 1975,yes many years ago true,but its image reflected in the river still remains steadfast fixed in my fancy. All that remains of it now are the massive end walls of solid concrete still set well into the water,but now a new footbridge spans the gap,and bikers now speed across it in their hurried fast fashion of today.

The Comparison between the two. By doing this it achieves three things. One it roughs up the outside of the bridge span, and two it allows the paint to soak into the paper which upon drying stiffens it up and three makes possible a better dry brushing on the final painting process.

The underside was painted with the Facing Paper still on this allows the strength to be centralized,as both parts come together.

A good point to mention is that each Braket Plate is simply lined up into place on the sea of glue and left like that for 10 minutes. So no pressing into place at this stage.

Inked guide lines are marked out where upright lengths will be added later.

Now the smaller odds and ended Plate Brackets are needed to finish off each of the four sides of this structure that gradually is taking place.

The small Bracket Plates drawn out free hand,and only three are needed because one simply turns them over to complete the sticking on work after the middle section upright girder has been reached.

Slim lengths for the girders have been cut out with the Facing Paper peeled off both sides,then painted. "A tidy little mess for me,i am thinking."

Cut longer than is needed makes it darn easy to finger and thumb hold the tiny things when painting. It was at this point that a heavy book was placed over the work to compress it,without it skidding way out of place, this explains fully why the Bracket Plates were left when first put into place.

Later the two remaining sides of the bridge which still had the Facing Paper attached to them were painted . Later when dry they will be turned over marked out and likewise the Bracket Plates will be stuck into place,as already explained.So all four of the inner sides of the bridge are now painted ____and i was off to bed with a yawn at 5 am this morning. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! BB

With the sticky smelly enamel painting complete on these sections that had all the Bracket Plates stuck into place it was time for the brush and glue pot to come into play once more.

The glue has dehydrated somewhat while in the little pot,which makes it easier to use.The thicker it is the better it is at sticking even painted stuff up.

The sides went together as near perfect as I could get them,and any glue showing white will dry transparent,so no worries on that score.With the thin reinforcement strips i fixed up inside,it is a lot tougher than if i`d stuck just three of the same patterns together.It is exceedingly strong even at this point,and when top and bottom girder rail is stuck into place it will be even more ridged and stronger. That will be stuck on later and of course i will show that progess too.

A Fixing Bracket acting like a foot will be placed upon the concrete End Walls i cast up first,and this bridge will simple sit upon those after spanning the gap in between them just like that one in the picture above.

This small Sample River Base has been prepared to flood some water effects upon,and those End Walls will in part have their feet in the water.

Now it is possible to extend the bridge using the End Wall system like real lengthy bridges crossing much wider rivers just by adding them and the girder design used is up to the modeller concerned and needs not follow mine.. Bridge sections can be even fixed upside down,like the real ones out there in the world are.

On top or upside down the bridging principles governed by engineering mathematics of strength still work.

i decided to down size the end walls.i made a shaped box out of styrene sheet ,and the four sides were pinned by way of dressmakers pins. i stuck these in at differing angles to one another which sure made it a strong box shape.Then leaving it open ended i placed it upon the glass that is blu tac`ed to one of my work tables.i then lightly fingered moist sand around it just to make sure it would not bulge out during the pressure caused by the pour. Soon both pieces were cast up using the same box.The little oblong box pattern was designed to break down easy just by withdrawing the pins . It took all of two minutes to make the box.This is another way of making plaster castings on the cheap.

Yes the slimed down end walls turned out well. That's the great thing about scratch building,if it does not look right into the bin it goes and plan B comes into operation.

Dry sand and Pins and Plaster of Paris are good to have in my modeling stash! BB

Having nowhere to buy a something needed for fine pin pushing. i resorted to make a crude but tiny braddle of my own. Cheap Braddles on E Bay had a point far to thick for my dress makers size pins.

A white hot pin pushed into this tiny plastic end created the shaft needed,when pulled out ,for a cut to size pin that was reversed and pushed home.

My Braddle Tool ,points ,marks and is easy to push deep into the chosen spot,then a pin head is cut off with a short end and then pushed home,by the same plastic tool that has a small well cut into the plastic ,and this can be seen below where the pin head rest while the pushing in takes place.

The kitchen scene today before our brand new spanking Tumble Dryer arrived. While shopping on line Mrs B, picked one out that condensers steam into a water reservoir ,just like our older one did. i got the thrill of obtaining a few more boxes of 1960`s antique railway bogies,and more boxes of models to sit on them, that once combined will sail by waving over many a bridge.

However i gain by using that distilled water by adding a drop of baby oil to it,in a small bottle and tiny drops dripped onto a tiny heating element creates steam like smoke coming from my antique railway loco`s. Magic and cheap

Being a bit behind in working on the bridge i thought to show you one from my Tomas Range of Toys. It will give you a picture of the paper card one that i hope to get some rivets into today.

Some might well ask why make one when you have a bought one already? It is the challenge of doing a scratch building project like this using paper card that will be much stronger than any off the peg toy. BB